BLM sells 4 million board feet of timber, Feb. 26

BLM release – NORTH BEND, Ore. – The Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management sold two timber sales at an oral auction on February 22. The 4.3 million board feet of timber sold, worth approximately $282,000, supports working landscapes across the West. 3H Forestry and Land Management was the high bidder for the “Churchyard” commercial thin timber sale. The timber is located on Oregon and California Revested (O&C) Lands in Douglas County. EZ Inc. was the high bidder for the “Beam Me Up” commercial thin timber sale. “Beam Me Up” is a small timber sale that will remove trees on approximately four acres to allow clear communications between two radio towers for several tower tenants, including the Coos County Sheriff’s Office. The timber is located on Coos Bay Wagon Road lands in Coos County. The money from the “Churchyard” timber sale is deposited into the federal O&C fund, which in turn is shared with the 18-western Oregon counties that contain O&C lands. These counties receive 50 percent of the receipts from the sale of forest products off of O&C lands each year. The Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands, known as the O&C Lands, lie in a checkerboard pattern through eighteen counties of western Oregon. These lands contain more than 2.4 million acres of forests with a diversity of plant and animal species, recreation areas, mining claims, grazing lands, cultural and historical resources, scenic areas, wild and scenic rivers, and wilderness. Similarly, the 74,000 acres of Coos Bay Wagon Road lands lie in a checkerboard pattern in Coos and Douglas Counties. Money from timber sales on these lands, including “Beam Me Up,” are deposited into the Coos Bay Wagon Road grant fund, which is in turn used to pay an in-lieu of tax payment to Coos and Douglas Counties each year. It takes approximately 16,000 board feet of lumber to frame a 2000 square foot home, this means that one million board feet of timber is enough to build approximately 63 family sized residential homes. For additional information on the Bureau of Land Management’s timber program, please visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/forests-and-woodlands/timber-sales